Heretofore, it has been common practice to transport newly manufactured vehicles, such as automobiles, vans, and trucks, made in this country or imported into this country, on auto rack equipped railroad cars. The transportation of newly manufactured vehicles by railroad is usually over long distances above three hundred miles. For example, domestic vehicles manufactured in the Midwest are transported to the west coast, or in another example, imported vehicles manufactured abroad which arrive on the west coast are transported to midwestern cities. A train having auto rack equipped railroad cars, known in the industry as auto rack cars, can take several days to reach its destination while traveling over thousands of miles through varying terrain. These trains also travel throughout the year enduring the severest of winter and summer weather as well as other environmental and man-made conditions.
The typical auto rack car is compartmented, having two or three floors or decks, opposed side walls, doors in front and back or at each end, and a roof. The side walls are constructed of numerous sidewall panels made of galvanized steel which are vertically arranged and attached between vertical posts that are spaced evenly throughout the length of the auto rack car. The sidewall panels are installed with horizontally extending gaps or openings between vertically adjacent panels, between the panels and the floor, roof or auxiliary panels, and between auxiliary panels and the floor. The cars are also constructed with vertically extending gaps or openings between the sidewall panels and the roof-supporting members such as the vertical posts. These gaps permit the entry of rapidly moving air into the auto rack car and thus onto and around the newly manufactured vehicles being carried in transit. This rapidly moving air entering the auto rack car carries airborne contaminants, such as iron oxide, smoke or exhaust from the railroad engine, metal filings or shavings from the railroad tracks, dirt or sand that may carry chemicals such as fertilizer, acid rain, and other precipitation containing contaminants, all of which can damage the finishes of the newly manufactured vehicles. This damage can be so extensive that the manufacturer has to specially coat the vehicles prior to shipment and/or repaint or refinish the vehicles after shipment.
One device for covering, closing, and sealing the gaps between adjacent sidewall panels as well as the gaps between the sidewall panels and the roof, vertical posts, floors, and auxiliary panels on an auto rack car is a gap sealer having a substantially rigid attaching head which is adapted to be snapped onto the flange of the sidewall panel, a covering body, and a sealing tail. This type of device heretofore known is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,239,933 and 5,415,108, which patents are owned by ZefTek, Inc., the owner of this application. Another known device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,311,823.
The device disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,239,933 and 5,415,108 involves a substantially rigid U-shaped attaching head having inside and outside walls. The interior surfaces of inside and outside walls may have gripping teeth attached thereon for frictionally engaging the flange of a sidewall panel to maintain the gap sealer on the panel. A covering body and a sealing tail are attached to the inside wall of the attaching head for covering the gap and biasing against an adjacent sidewall panel, vertical post, floor, roof, or auxiliary panel. In a further embodiment, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,239,933 and 5,415,108 disclose an attaching head including inside and outside walls having a securing tongue attached to the outside wall and a coacting locking arm attached to the inside wall to additionally secure the gap sealing device on the flange of the sidewall panel.
While the device disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,239,933 and 5,415,108 generally performs its intended function, it has been found that in a significant number of cases, the device disclosed therein, and specifically the embodiment of FIGS. 5 to 9, may become dislodged from the flange of the sidewall panel if significant inward and/or upward force is applied to a bumper attached to the device or to the covering body. It has also been found that if the flange of the sidewall panel is bent or deformed, it is extremely difficult to place the attaching head of the device on that flange. These flanges may become bent or deformed, for instance, if a vehicle door contacts them with sufficient force. Attaching the securing tongue and locking arm of FIGS. 10 to 13 of U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,239,933 and 5,415,108 does not necessarily solve the problem because it has been determined that that embodiment is more difficult to mount.